Tech_Tips

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Tech Tips for Teachers -- Tips you can use to increase your productivity!

MISC
  • Did you know... you can switch quickly between programs by holding the ALT key and clicking the TAB key? Choose the program you want to go to in the window that opens.

Notepad
  • Use Notepad to make a log file: Open Notepad, on first line type .LOG Save on your desktop & close the file. Now each time you open the file, the date & time will be stamped onto the next line! Perfect for recording phone conversations, etc.

Web Searching
  • You can shorten a long URL you want to share with someone by using www.tinyurl.com
  • Find related terms and documents -- Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.
  • Web Searching
  • You can shorten a long URL you want to share with someone by using www.tinyurl.com

Web Search Tips (applicable to most search engines)
  • Phrases. If you're looking for an exact phrase, put it in quotes.
  • Use Basic Math.Broaden or narrow your search efforts by using add and subtract. For example, you are searching for John Flight, but you get lots of results for airlines. Combine several Web search basics to get your results: "john flight" -airlines. Now your results will come back without airline results.
  • # Wildcards. You can use "wildcard" characters to broaden the search. The most common wildcard characters include *, #, and ?-- asterisk is the most common. For example, to find sites that discuss reading, don't search for read, search for read*. This will return pages that contain the word "read" as well as pages that contain "reads", "reading", "read books", etc.
  • # Find the Word. If you get a web page that appears to have nothing to do with your search, (especially a long document) -- click Ctrl-F and then type in the text you are looking for, and the word or phrase is highlighted.

Google advanced search operators, operator combinations, and related searches:
  • Find related terms and documents -- Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.
  • Others:
    • link:URL = lists other pages that link to the URL.
    • related:URL = lists other pages that are related to the URL.
    • site:domain.com “search term = restricts search results to the given domain.
    • allinurl:WORDS = shows only pages with all search terms in the url.
    • inurl:WORD = like allinurl: but filters the URL based on the first term only.
    • allintitle:WORD = shows only results with terms in title.
    • intitle:WORD = similar to allintitle, but only for the next word.
    • cache:URL = will show the Google cached version of the URL.
    • info:URL = will show a page containing links to related searches, backlinks, and pages containing the url. This is the same as typing the url into the search box.
    • filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will restrict searches to that filetype
    • -filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will remove that file type from the search.
    • site:www.somesite.net “+www.somesite.net” = shows you how many pages of your site are indexed by google
    • allintext: = searches only within text of pages, but not in the links or page title
    • allinlinks: = searches only within links, not text or title
    • WordA OR WordB = search for either the word A or B
    • “Word” OR “Phrase” = search exact word or phrase
    • WordA -WordB = find word A but filter results that include word B
    • WordA +WordB = results much contain both Word A and Word B
    • ~WORD = looks up the word and its synonyms
    • ~WORD -WORD = looks up only the synonyms to the word
  • GoogleGuide -- (more tips) -- http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html
  • Google Search Features -- (more tips) -- http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html

PPT
  • Note-taking trick -- open Notepad in a narrow window to the right or left of PPT (or other document) and turn on word wrap to take notes while scrolling through PPT.
  • Did you know…that you can send PPT to Word? In PPT, just go to File – Send to – Microsoft Word, and the slide images and notes will transfer into a table in Word. It’s an efficient way to work with presentation notes! See how it's done: http://screencast.com/t/DlMXbRX9F07

Excel OR Word
  • Did you know…that you can view two Word or Excel documents side-by-side? Open the documents, make sure the cursor is at the top on each, then go to Window – Compare Side by Side with… You can turn sync on or off

Excel
  • Freezing panes (select cell B2 - or other cell -- go to Window menu, choose Freeze Panes)
  • Vanish Lines -- When presenting from an Excel Sheet make the light gray lines vanish by filling all the extra cells with white; makes presentations look much better.
  • Auto Filter -- Open doc you want to filer, go to Data - Filter - Autofilter
  • Conditional formatting -- especially when working with benchmark scores or other data
  • LEARN MORE!
    • Merge data from different sources (e.g. different years of student scores) by using vlookup. To learn how to do this, type vlookup in the search help box in the upper right corner of your Excel spreadsheet.
    • Learn: CustomGuide Online Learning Demos -- Go to http://www.customguide.com/excel-training.htm
      • How to calculate Totals with AutoSum, how to Insert Cell Comments -- Go to the middle of the page where it says Customizable Online Learning & choose from the Online Learning Demos.
      • How to create absolute cell references, create a chart, paste values, create a formula: Go to the bottom of the page and click on one of the 'learn' links.

Working Together
  • Google Docs -- www.docs.google.com
    • Create & share a spreadsheet with multiple people working on it simultaneously!
    • Create a form to collect information into a spreadsheet
    • Create a collaborative drawing or brainstorm
  • Join Me -- https://join.me/ -- free online tool to share screen with others & work collaboratively in real time.

Word
  • Dictionary/Thesaurus Shortcut – Hold the Alt key down and click on any word, the Reference Toolbar opens and gives the definition of the word as well as synonyms.
  • Double and Single Spacing Shortcuts – CTRL+2 turns on double spacing for the document where CTRL+1 reverts to single spacing.
  • Creating a Hyperlink – As an alternative to pasting an entire website address (URL) do the following. Type the title of the website – highlight the title – Click Ctrl-K & then click on browsed pages to select the link. OR create a hyperlink to another part of the Word document. [Remove Hyperlink: ...]
  • Alphabetizing a List – When you create a bulleted or numbered list, Word can alphabetize them quickly.
    • 2003 and earlier click Table – Sort – ascending
    • 2007 click Home Tab – IconSort_16x16 by you. icon(Paragraph Dialogue Box) – ascending
  • Basic Shortcuts – Cut (Ctrl+X ) Copy (Ctrl+C) Paste (Ctrl-V) Undo (Ctrl+Z)
  • Create a customized bulleted list with happy faces or check marks as the bullet. You will need to create a list first then do the following:
    • 2003 Users click Format – Bullets and Numbering – Customize – A new window will pop up – Choose Character – Choose Wingdings or Symbols – Select a Character – OK - OK
    • 2007 Users click Home Tab – Drop drown next to the bullet icon – Define new bullet –Symbol – Selected a Character – Ok – Ok.
  • Learn: CustomGuide Online Learning Demos -- Go to http://www.customguide.com/word-training.htm
    • How to track revisions; how to Insert a Picture -- Go to the middle of the page where it says Customizable Online Learning & choose from the Online Learning Demos.
    • How to create a Word template, find and replace, add a page break, draw an auto shape, etc. -- Go to the bottom of the page and click on one of the 'learn' links.

Outlook
  • Set a reminder to reply to a message: Right-click the message you want to set the reminder for, point to Follow Up, and then click Add Reminder. In the Due By list, click the date when you have to complete the reply. In the second list, click a time. In the Flag color list, click the flag color you want, and then click OK.
  • Add your own words to a follow-up flag for a new message: Click the Message Flag button and then type the text you want in the Flag to box.
  • Automatically filter your incoming messages!

Jing -- Create short video clips of your desktop with voice. Use it to show someone how to do something. Send them the URL. Quick & easy! -- http://www.jingproject.com/ (Software is available for free download.)

WEB RESOURCES

RESEARCH

  • Pipl -- http://pipl.com/ -- A comprehensive people search with organized results; use to help students think about the digital footprint they're leaving.
  • Way Back Machine -- http://www.archive.org/index.php -- Search the Internet archives. (Try searching for edisonproject.com This is also a great way to find content that no longer is published on the Web; anytime you encounter a broken link, enter it into the Wayback Machine -- there may be an archived copy.)
  • BibMe -- http://www.bibme.org --Fast and easy bibliography Maker (MLA, AP, etc.) that allows user to add annotations which show up once the list is downloaded.(Try putting in a book ISBN or title, see what happens, add an annotation.)
  • Clusty -- http://www.clusty.com -- clustered web search results (How might this help ELL or other students?)
  • Duck Duck Go! -- http://duckduckgo.com/ --a new search engine that's simple and yields excellent results; find info faster.
  • Google Squared -- http://www.google.com/squared/ -- put in a search term and see what happens! (Try explorers, dogs, telescopes, volcanoes, etc.)


WORDS



IMAGES



CREATIVE

  • Jeopardy Labs -- http://jeopardylabs.com/ -- Create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint…and play the games online from anywhere in the world. OR browse jeopardy templates created by other people. Easy!
  • Photo Story 3 -- This is free SOFTWARE that is part of the EdisonLearning computer image. It allows you to create movies from still images. Digital book trailers created with PS3: http://web.nmc.org/5cardstory/flickr.php


COMMUNICATION TOOLS:

BLOG -- http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs


Examples of K-12 use:



WIKI -- http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
Examples of K-12 use: